The Citizenship Act 1965 is being looked at by the Union government for necessary amendments. It relates to grant of citizenship to religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. A joint committee of parliamentarians are scanning the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2006. That concerned grant of citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists migrating from neighbouring countries and having resided in India for at least 6years. The problem is that the basic idea behind the Bill seems violative of constitutional principles of secularism since the categories have religious denominations. True, the basis of also an identification of minorities and neighbouring countries with a record of religious persecution. India is prepared to offer asylum to people of all religions except muslims otherwise, rohingya muslims from Bangladesh and Myanmar would have been added to the list. The question also arises as to how the Indian government can decide on the issue of religious persecution in neighbouring countries. It is also difficult to distinguish between victims of genuine religious persecution and refugees coming to India for economic reasons claiming to be victims of religious persecution. Can India in such circumstances rightfully react to Pakistan conferring citizenship on muslims who pretend to be victims of religious discrimination in India and seek refuge in that country?
The proposed amendments betray a distorted view of Indian identity. India should not discriminate between various religious denominations. The citizenship programme for refugees should be just and fair and carried out on a case to case basis. There should be no bias towards or against any religious community.